Thread: Is this lathe anygood?

Hi And welcome Cooper
I don't think it was a good idea putting up links to the Hercus's if you are thinking about buying one as a lot of non members as well as members read this forum.

The Hercus lathes are nice solid lathes and a lot can be done on them. Don't take that coat of paint to mean anything condition wise, it is actually a sign to be wary when it has been painted up nice.
Also there are a lot of spare parts floating around for the Hercus.

I have had problems with H&F's so I am a bit biased, but they are only Chinese lathes made by the thousands and the quality and problems will vary from one to the other.

Dave

If you intend to possably purchase the first hercus lathe you linked to take into account the age of the machine and type,there are not too many flat bed hercus lathes around and some spares may be hard to source.Also note that there appears to be a section of the gear train missing and the leadscrew is not present.

The first hercus lathe link looks good but i rather buy the older that has nothing missing from it but it sucks because the people give barley any information on it or if they come with accessories. :/

Hi And welcome Cooper

Thank you very much appreciated

also a question if you were to choose out of the lathes witch one would it be and why?. Just wanting to know so i know what one is better in your opinion

Edit: Also I heard that insert carbide tools arnt to good for belt driven lathes is this true?

In regards to which lathe they are probably both capable of doing what you may need.

The Hercus will cut more TPI and more Pitches,it will also have more variety of feeds.

They are both belt drive.

Spare parts are available for the Hercus.

The Hercus is a slightly heavier machine therefore it maybe more ridgid.

The Hercus is a plain bearing Spindle,(this is not a bad thing).

The Chinese lathe is new,will come with warranty(seems that a few people have to adjust and modify these NEW machines to perform either better or too a higher standard.

If time is no real concern go and have a look at the Hercus or call and ask questions,if the person you are talking to knows anything about the lathe hopefully they will be honest in there answers.

If you know anything about lathes and you go and have a look and play with it you will see for your self.

In regards to the seller being honest in what they may tell you about the Hercus you will run the same risk if not higher from the dealer,unfortunately they know how to sell are capable readers and possably have retentive memories,but most lack hands on experience or machine tool knowledge.
In regards to the issue of Carbide tooling and belt driven spindles that choice will be totally yours,I run Carbide on my Hercus as well as HSS when the need arises(more times Carbide than HSS).

Ok cheers but considering im only 14 I dont think im gona call the guy plus I dont really have the money at the moment but hopefully for my birthday I can get a lathe for my shed, I hope to get a old lathe like a hercus but if there are none around for my birthday that are around $1000 ill give it a miss and wait for a while until I find something for a good price or just go with one of those Chinese lathes

Thanks for the replies

Cooper

Pipeclay is only trying to help you out, and he is one of the guys on here that knows Hercus's inside out. If you listen and take his advise you will be less likely to go wrong in your purchase. There is nothing worse than buy a lathe then finding out it's a heap of rubbish a few months down the track when you learn to use it.

Being only 14 and not having any money at the moment look around keep your eye out and ask everyone you know and if you have a local scrap yard keep asking him each week to look out for one for you. You just may get lucky and pick up one for cheap or nothing and if you get to know the local scrap guy he is the best place for material to use on the lathe latter.

If you do buy one maybe you could find someone to go with you, maybe even a teacher from school if you have one for metal work these days.

We also have another member here that is only 16 and he is getting pretty well set up.

Dave

as you are only 14 it means you would be very conversant with the metric system and as such a chinese lathe would be a good option though most have the ability to do imperial threads as well. They also come with face plate 3 & 4 jaw chucks plus fixed & travelling steadies. I have had a couple and they are good machines for a hobby lathe. As I'm not a tradie I can tell you the chinese lathe can be as good as a hercus which may also need work to make it accurate again or just worn out junk. I have built a couple nice steam engines and am working on a couple IC engines at the moment and can't see a problem with my chinese lathe
My opinion is go for what you can afford and make a start on a great hobby. once you start work you can always upgrade if you still enjoy metal working at that stage in your life.
Pete

Good point on the metric Pete

Dave

I would go for the second Hercus, It looks fairly complete with the guards, thread dial, norton gearbox and a stand to boot plus you have both surfacing and facing feeds the AL-50 doesn't

maybe even a teacher from school if you have one for metal work these days.

We have got a teacher who is really good with metal since he is the only one who did a proper trades course with metal working, Although i barely know him since i dont have him as a teacher for any subjects
In year 10 we get to learn how to use the lathe and stuff but not in year 9 which suck.
Although i do have a pretty good understanding because i try do as much research on metal lathes every day
In Adelaide there arnt to many place where you can get metal but there is one place but apparently it took my friend an hour until he got serviced

if you still enjoy metal working at that stage in your life.

I always will be since its something that I want to do when i get older

Im going to try and keep the look out for hercus lathes that are $1000 or under and when I do find one ill post it and see what you guys think if its worth buying or not

Thanks for the nice replies, now I know what I should look out for in a hercus and thanks for all the help
by the way everyone is so nice on this forum I never really seen a forum which is this nice in helping and everything.
And one more thing i do have a lathe its a combination lathe although it isn't mine, my friend is leaving his combo lathe/mill at my house until he gets back from his trip and then finds a new garage so im able to learn with his lathe/mill but it do-sent have power feed or anything like that its pretty standard everything needs to be done by hand.

Cooper

hi mate im 16 i got my first lathe when i was 13 it was a small mini lathe.a year later i found a hercus for $800 they are small but they can do alot i love mine it's great. You sound just like me 3 years ago.

hi mate im 16 i got my first lathe when i was 13 it was a small mini lathe.a year later i found a hercus for $800 they are small but they can do alot i love mine it's great. You sound just like me 3 years ago.

That is exactly why I want a hercus or another good brand of lathe.
Do you have pictures of your lathe or what model it is?

You sound just like me 3 years ago

I bet i do hahahah

yeah mate it's a 1951 model A hercus with a flat belt drive. Be careful not to cath the metalworking fever i started off building trailers for my mower with a borrowed arc welder. Then i bought a drill press then i needed a bigger drill press.Then i found a cheap mill couldn't resist than i found a metal shaper the price was to good to refuse. now every weekend i am spending my money on tooling .

Be careful not to cath the metalworking fever

I think im coming down with that fever :/

now every weekend i am spending my money on tooling .

Well you can never have enough tools

yeah mate it's a 1951 model A hercus with a flat belt drive.

That looks like a really nice lathe great find hopefully i can get one of these soon . Also do you know of any videos of the hercus lathes?